Palin, polar bears, Shell Oil and The Nature Conservancy

I am absolutely discussed with Palin as a person , never mind a "VP". Good lord, why is it we always get to pick the "lesser of two evils" when it comes down to a President. and his sidekick. I know this is not a presidential debate. So, if we continue to these despicable acts of terror on the enrivonment , it WILL comes back to haunt , not us but our children and theirs'. I absolutely LOVE animals. The innocence of them. The callousness of our government makes my stomach turn. Why is it always the environmentalists are the people pushing rope. The whole world is going down the drain and we only have ourselves to blame. NON PROFIT GROUPS - DO YOUR JOB ETHICALLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Or it could be because the polar bear is doing just fine. Despite widespread drilling, polar bear populations have increased over the last 25 years by all accounts, largely due to a cooperative effort by the US, Russia, Canada and a couple of other Arctic nations. In the last five years there is no evidence of any decline in the majority of polar bear populations (14 of the 19) and in the five where there has been a change, it is not statistically significant.

The petition to add the polar bear to the endangered species list was a symbolic one on the part of a few select environmental groups, namely the Center for Biological Diversity, seeking to bureaucratically paralyze the Dept. of Interior and the oil-lease process. By the way, it was added to the threatened species list, not the endangered species list.

Should drilling continue? Maybe or maybe not, I'm not one to say. But the idea that the polar bear needs to be protected and thus used as a pawn in this is posturing and nothing more.

The resources of the DOI in protecting endangered and threatened species are limited and precious. The polar bear is not at risk, and there are other species who need help more than that one. It's a shame that the misguided efforts of such interests are subverting the issue and trying to make waves instead of getting to the root of things.

Yeah, sure it's just the donations from oil companies. Nobody cares about the cost to heat our homes or drive to work.

Why don't you try this one on for size:

Friday, September 26, 2008
(AP) Governor Patrick says there's a real possibility that people in America could freeze to death this winter due to the soaring cost of home heating fuel. Patrick met with members of the Massachusetts congressional delegation on Capitol Hill and later testified before a House panel on the need for heating aid in cold-weather states.

Patrick said the cost of heating a home -- whether by electricity, gas or oil -- is expected to cost between 20 and 31 percent more than a year ago. He said that will have an impact on many families, and not just those who are defined as low-income.

The House has approved legislation to double the government's Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program to 5.1 billion dollars for the coming winter. According to the Associated Press, Massachusetts would receive 163 million dollars under the plan, an increase of 36 million dollars from the last fiscal year. The Senate must still sign off on the measure. Meantime, Maryann Covalanski, who runs the Springfield Fuel Assistance Program says that it will help...but even more is needed.

MONEY TALKS FOR THE RICH ,, What else can you say.
Pockets are lined and that has been the game for so long it is pathetic.

Instead of mass volume solar or electirc vehicles,,,

Richard (as well as the "Drill baby drill" people. The point is that it will only save pennies a gallon, as the author stated, to drill in ANWR, and it will be years. Invest in conservation programs could offer the same price reduction, but sooner, and it will leave this country less polluted (less people dying from air pollution, more of our country unspoiled by oil rigs).

Who would you want for your moose hunting partner... Dead-eye Dick or Calamity Barbie? I'd trust either one if I lived in house just across the sea from Putin's Siberian barbarians. Give Barbie some slack. She'll save us from Evil, even if she has to speak to the Devil in tongues and handle snakes.

This polar bear thing is indeed pathetic and shows the ugly side of our politicians and oil companies, but it is a distraction from the real issue which has been avoided for decades...as a nation we don't have the courage to address the problem of oil dependency. We should HOPE that gasoline prices go to $6 or $7 a gallon, since we can see the reaction by our people when it was only at $4...bicycles are back, we are driving BILLIONS of fewer miles in our cars, and hybrid vehicles are taking off. Apparently it is ONLY when we feel financial pain that we act in a responsible way. I think we should not only not allow ANWR drilling...we should add a $2 a gallon tax to gasoline...then maybe our children and grandchildren won't have to be kicked around by by Russia!

Economies go up & down. Recessions come & go, but there is only one Earth. Lets do all we can keep it healthy.

Well those people who will purportedly freeze may not have to move. (Unlike the polar bear.) Why? Because at the rate that the earth is warming, November will look more like July.

Money talks.

The Nature Conservancy is a science based, not an advocacy based non-profit. They have taken a stance on the polar bear and did some of the earliest work on the negative affects global warming is having on the needed habitat of these animals. The donations they collect go towards buying lands in order to protect habitat and to conduct research on what effects things like global warming will have on the species that live there.
A better question for you to ask may be why we still have people in office or running for office that still deny global climate change is a real threat and should be treated as such.

Andrew, you are wrong. The Polar Bear was to be included in the "Endangered Species" list, *NOT* the "Threatened Species" list which is not well-recognized, not as rigorously mandated, and certainly not as stringent.

Those facts aside, the Polar Bear and its sub-species, as a whole, are suffering severe declines in population support, specifically habitat invasion and habitat reduction by humans.

Go drill. Suck that oil dry. The sooner the better I say.

Peak oil has happened and only the increase in demand will quit our quashing and squelching of the atmosphere with CO2. So I am all in favor of depleting the diminishing supply in quick regard.

We'll be mining our landfills for PCBs and petroleum-based refuse in 20 years just to reclaim the plastics for manufacturing purposes. Buy futures in landfill stocks. And please, please, buy more crude oil products sooner rather than later.

-- f9a

So a few things here...

-I don't care about polar bears. Why should you? The world has to suffer so animals can thrive? As a registered democrat AND a realist,instead of forcing oil companies to spent monies on lobby and court fees, and let them spend the money on making offshore drilling technology safer for the ecosystem and in case of disaster. I don't give a flying fig if we have to drill in marshlands or offshore.

-Send the only reason why people are so into 'going green' and buying a prius is because gas prices are high. If gas prices magically dropped to be $1.50 a gallon tomorrow, all the talk of environment and Priuses and alternative fuels would disappear like Ted Kennedy at an open bar event.

-Hey, aren't we cutting down the rain forests now to make room for corn fields for alternaive fuels? Good move you cambridge living, patcholie smelling iMac using putzx!

-Third, you people just need to grow up. If the polar bears could, they would kill you and your entire family. So would most animals.

-Seond,

Fortunately, Sarah Palin has now been fully appreciated by the American people for what she is - a joke. And with that in mind, one can now laugh at her tortured attempts to sound coherent without having to fear the awfulness that a Palin presidency would represent. So enjoy the meltdown, and don't feel too guilty when this woman is reduced to tears at the debates next week, because it's rare indeed that humans and polar bears are able to share a laugh together.

I agree With Chris #7. we use 25% of the worlds energy and have only 5% of the worlds population. That disparity is rediculous and is clear that we take energy in all forms for granted. If the Nature conservancy fails to recognize that we have a failed energy policy in the US they will no longer get my donations.

People who cannot spell should not comment on issues like this....